Tory MPs and voters in the North East still back scandal-hit Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg has claimed.
The Prime Minister faces continued questions about his premiership, with two damaging by-election defeats last week coming after the Partygate controversy in Downing Street and more than 40% of his own MPs voting to oust him in a confidence vote. Despite the ballot box defeats to Labour in Wakefield and the Lib Dems in Tiverton and Honiton a week ago, Mr Rees-Mogg claimed that the Government would fare far better if a general election was held.
Asked after a visit to Newcastle on Thursday if he believed that ‘Red Wall’ Tory MPs elected in 2019 and North East voters who supported Mr Johnson then still had faith in the PM, Mr Rees-Mogg told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Yes. The Prime Minister won a huge mandate in 2019, he won it from voters who had not previously voted Conservative, particularly in the North East.
